Some Reasons You May Need Wisdom Teeth Removal

October 17, 2017

It may seem counter-intuitive to remove teeth to improve your oral health, but in some cases, that is the wise thing to do. If you think you or your children might need to undergo a wisdom teeth removal procedure, call Lakewood Dental Centre at (204) 977-8515 to find out for sure during a private consultation.

For your convenience, Dr. Doug McDermid, Dr. Rose K. Dhillon, and our team of dental professionals offer a wide range of treatments at our Winnipeg, MB dentist office that could benefit your whole family in many ways.

You may be intimidated by having us perform tooth extractions on your wisdom teeth, especially if you’re of a certain age. But hopefully, it will put you at ease some to know that wisdom teeth removal is a fairly routine procedure that many dentists perform. As a matter of fact, an article published by the Canadian Dental Association noted that the procedure is one of the most commonly conducted forms of oral surgery in Canada.

We’ve found that it helps if patients understand why they might need a particular dental treatment. To learn some of the reasons why your or your child’s wisdom teeth may need to come out for the sake of overall oral health, read more below.

Learn About Wisdom Teeth Removal And Reasons For It

Everyone has a unique set of teeth. And with 32 individual teeth in just about every smile, a lot of complications can occur. One category of dental issues is when wisdom teeth start causing problems for patients.

Wisdom teeth are so called because they typically start to come in during a person’s late teens or early twenties. They are also known as “third molars” because they are the third set of molars to come in, after your other adult teeth.

Some patients have no problems at all when their wisdom teeth begin to come in. There are a number of factors that determine this, including jaw shape and size. But, frequently, wisdom teeth will need to be removed.

One reason we may recommend a wisdom teeth removal is if your wisdom teeth are coming in crooked. This could result in a fair amount of pain, but also, it could mean that your wisdom teeth are putting pressure against or even damaging your adjacent teeth. If there’s already not enough room in your jaw, wisdom teeth could make it even worse and lead to overcrowding.

Depending on how crooked your wisdom teeth are coming in, they may not cause that much discomfort for you initially. But over time, they could put push against your other teeth enough to have widespread effects on how straight your teeth are. Your smile could be healthy and straight up until your wisdom teeth start to come in crooked.

Wisdom teeth may also need to be removed because they could complicate the process of straightening the rest of your teeth. For example, if you are about to undergo an orthodontic procedure to straighten your teeth, wisdom teeth could get in the way. This could mean you’d have to postpone your teeth-straightening treatment until the wisdom teeth can be removed.

Wisdom teeth can also become impacted when they are erupting. A tooth being impacted basically means that it gets stuck below your gums for some reason or another. As mentioned above, this could occur because there is not enough room for the wisdom teeth. Your third molars could also be coming in crooked and get stuck. This, in turn, could cause painful swelling of the gums.

To determine if you could benefit from wisdom teeth removal, we will check when you visit us every six months for your routine dental cleaning and exam. By taking a simple X-ray, we’ll be able to see your wisdom teeth and assess if there is enough room in your jaw for them to come in properly.

If we do perform a wisdom teeth removal, we will do everything we can to make your procedure as pleasant as possible. In most cases, we will recommend using dental sedation during a wisdom teeth removal.

Following a wisdom teeth removal, we will explain some simple aftercare steps that will help you avoid dry socket, infections, and other complications that could occur.

Find out for sure if you or a loved one needs to undergo a wisdom teeth removal to improve and/or maintain their oral health by calling Lakewood Dental Centre at (204) 977-8515. You can also visit our Winnipeg, MB dentist office in person during our normal hours or use our handy online form.